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Solid Waste Board votes 2-1 against med waste facility recommendation

The Blount County Solid Waste Disposal Authority Board met Thursday, Sept. 18 to consider Harvest Med Waste Disposal’s application to process medical waste at a Remlap facility. Board members Jeff Hallmark and Richard Spraggins recommended that the application be denied, while Russ Martin recommended approval.

At the hearing, board members questioned Harvest CEO David Dyer and his associates about the proposed facility’s environmental impacts. If approved, the facility would operate at 13605 and 13609 State Highway 75 near the Jefferson County line. The 1.6 acre property is adjacent to Gurley Creek, a major tributory of the Locust Fork River.

FEMA maps the location as within a 100-year flood zone, defined as having “a 1% annual chance of flooding and a 26% chance of flooding [within 30 years].”

Harvest Med Waste disputes the floodplain designation. CEO David Dyer told board members that the concrete slab of the two buildings sits “a little over three feet above the 640-foot floodplain.”

Further, Dyer said he intents to “go over and beyond” to ensure waste is contained amid even catastrophic flooding or high winds by building raised platforms for all untreated waste and by halting deliveries during inclement weather.

Hallmark doubted that any risk mitigation plan could be sufficient. “You know what happened in Texas. Nobody seen that flood coming,” Hallmark said. “This building is not a tornado building. It’s going to have needles and all that in it. And I know that’s all hypothetical, but things like that happen. That’s my big concern.”

When asked by Spraggins how Harvest would ensure effective sterilization, Dyer spoke of quality control testing done every six weeks at a comparable Texas facility. Kelly Prchal, CEO of the manufacturer of the ozone-based processing machine that Harvest would use, then explained via video call that “sensors throughout the machine will track and document the ozone concentration” with data to demonstrate “that each load has been properly treated to the required amount of time and concentration to be fully treated and inert.”

Spraggins addressed the safety of the site’s septic system: “Are the fill lines placed the minimum distance required by the health department from the creek?” Dyer did not know. “I think that needs to be studied before you go any further,” Spraggins stated. “You need to have an approved onsite sewer system.”

After the vote, Spraggins explained why he chose not to recommend approval. “My main reason is because it’s in a flood plain,” he said. “I would be open to it if was in a different location.”

“My big thing was the health of the community,” said Hallmark, who also voted against recommendation. "If a tornado came through there and scattered needles everywhere, I don’t want that in Blount County. I love Blount County, and I don’t think it would be good for Blount County,” Hallmark said.

Martin said he voted in favor of recommendation “because of what I heard today.”

County Attorney Jeff Sherrer explained that the hearing was not part of Alabama’s legal approval process; rather, it was created by the Commission “as a result of litigation that happened back in the ’90s,” Sherrer said. “So our 10-year solid waste plan has a provision in it as a result of that litigation that anything having to do with solid waste goes before this board for recommendation.”

The Solid Waste Board also includes Denny Armstrong and Jerry Casey, who were not present at Thursday’s hearing. The five board members are appointed by the County Commission. “These nice fellows just serve with no pay or anything, just as a duty to Blount County,” Sherrer said.

The Blount County Commission will vote on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. whether to allow the application to move forward in the state’s approval process. Commissioners are not obligated to follow the recommendation of the Solid Waste Board.

If the Commission votes to deny the application, “then it is basically over with,” Sherrer said. “If they approve the application, then there’s a lot more steps involved for the applicant pursuant to siting a solid waste facility.”

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